Pages

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Max and the Junkmen (February 16th and 17th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[MAX AND THE JUNKMEN screens Saturday February 16th at 6:55 pm and Sunday February 17th at 4:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Independently wealthy thanks to his
family's wine business, Max (Michel Piccoli) has relinquished his
position as a judge in favor of working as a police detective.
Frustrated when the bank robbers he had been running a sting
operation on manage to get away, Max is determined to make a major
bust no matter what. When he bumps into old army buddy Abel (Bernard
Fresson), who is making a living as a small time criminal stealing
and selling scrap, Max gets the idea to manipulate Abel and his gang
into becoming bank robbers. To this end, he casually suggests that
rather than continue with his small-time crimes, Abel ought to
consider making one big score.

Max then creates a false identity for
himself as a banker and begins seeing Lily (Romy Schneider), a
prostitute who also happens to be Abel's girlfriend. Max pays Lily
quite well merely to spend time with him, dropping casual pieces of
information about a nearby bank into their conversations in hopes
that it will get back to Abel. Abel takes the bait and sets about
planning his heist, but at the same time things get complicated for
Max as he begins to have feelings for Lily. The chances of this
ending well for any of the characters looks slim.

MAX AND THE JUNKMEN
gives us a different kind of police corruption than we're used to
seeing in the movies. Max isn't interested in money or status; he has
the money, and he's already given up status in favor of a job where
he can pursue his own ideals of justice. Instead, it is those very
ideals that lead Max to his downfall as inflexible standards and a
black and white view of the world lead him to instigate a crime just
so he can stop it, all without any thought to the possible collateral
damage until it's too late.

There is undoubtedly a streak of leftist
political and socio-economic commentary running through MAX
AND THE JUNKMEN – it's a
French film made in 1971, what do you expect? At the same time,
however, writer/director Claude Sautet makes sure that the subtext
doesn't get in the way of his film's entertainment value. You can certainly take some kind of message away from the film, but first and foremost it's a fun and clever caper flick with a great cast. 3 1/2 out
of 4 stars.